And so I left on a jetplane, back to the real world - missing the doggies

It's been exactly one week since I flew back from Puerto Rico. It was a great trip that was captured very well on my new camera. I'm very satisifed with my Nikon camera purchase. The pictures just came out so bright and vivid - I took plenty, which is fine by me. So to summarize the remainder of the trip....we visited El Yunque, which is the only rainforest in the U.S. Forest Service. I love this place so much. We hiked the Big Tree Trail that led to La Mina Falls. You could hear people in the distance so we knew when we were getting close to the waterfall. Once we got there though, I didn't realize just how MANY people were already in the pools of water and under the waterfall. It didn't matter though. My plan was to bring my bathing suit and find a possible changing place before taking off on the trail but there was no place to change. So I figured I would just admire the waterfall from a distance. But oh no, once I saw that waterfall there was no going back. I was going to get in that water - regular clothes on and everything. So very slowly I started to dip myself in the water. You have to realize that this river water is ice cold. But oddly enough, once I submerged myself completely, I acclimated pretty quickly (more so than when I've dunked myself in a cold ocean). I splashed around in the waterfall and this is what the vacation was all about. Waterfalls, relaxation.....peace. Once I stepped out, I felt so refreshed...so clean. I dried off quickly and it was definitely worth it. We hiked back, visited one of the Towers and the other waterfall, La Coca Falls, and ate at the only eatery. It was a great day. El Yunque will always be a destination I want to visit whenever I am in Puerto Rico.

Now let me tell you about the sato dogs of the island. These are basically the stray mutts roaming the streets. And they are everywhere. It makes me so sad, just seeing them all over the place like that. There aren't that many animal welfare/rescue organizations but they are slowly starting to appear. I had to restrain myself from trying to pet and save every dog (or cat) I saw. There was one light colored shepard mix that was roaming around the town square area in Ponce. It was the funniest thing. I would be on one street, he'd pass by and then I kept seeing him at random times just passing in front of this store, going down that street....we were just always crossing paths. He (or she!) looked happy though, which is the main feature of these dogs. They are incredibly friendly and well-behaved. I don't know why that is exactly. You would think having a rough life being dirty and having to scrounge around for your food and sleep under cars hoping someone's not going to kick you or shoo you away would make you mean or at least skittish. But they aren't, they are very friendly pooches. Though I must say I did witness someone do something unkind to a dog, though not cruel....I did get very upset at what I saw though and had to restrain myself from saying something to this OFFENDER, but this guy aggresively threw his entire bottle of water onto the CUTEST little black puppy for no reason other than that the puppy was sniffing out some food. So what did I do? I lured the puppy over to me and gave him some of my food. He had the biggest ears - he was genuinely so adorable. However, he ended up following us down the pier and towards the beach. We eventually lost him once another large crowd of people came across him. I would have taken him home if I could. Then there was another black puppy when we tried to visit the Camuy Caverns. The cutest little black puppy...people were feeding him cheerios. I eventually picked him up myself for a quick pet. I'm sorry but yes, I happen to pick up stray animals, call me gross I don't care. His mother eventually came around and the little one bounded towards her to start nursing. So sweet. One more dog story - while we were at the beach swimming in Rincon, I look over to my left and there's a big hairy...DOG swimming in the ocean next to me. I thought that was hilarious. The dog was also a sato but the owners of a local surf shop basically adopted him and another local dog so they hang around the beach a lot. When the owners of the shop left to take some people on a boat ride, the dog came over and sat in the sand facing the ocean, just waiting for his owners to return. Again, it was a sweet scene. It actually was in Rincon where I saw the advertisement for the local rescue group. There is also another site called http://www.saveasato.org/. It's really sad to see the amount of homeless dogs on the island. I also once read that there exists a Dead Dog Beach. I don't even want to know where that is. Maybe I'll go back to Puerto Rico one day and establish an animal organization. I love those dogs....

Sad to say though, it's time to face the real world and work again. Everything's good, just looking forward to the next refreshing adventure.

It was a great trip filled with fun and family, more stuff than I can remember to even write in my blogs.

Mayaguez, Rincon, and San Juan

This little sticker definitely sums it up for the city of Rincon, also known as the "City of Beautiful Sunsets." But before I talk about Rincon, let me back up a bit. After we left Ponce, we made our way to the west coast to Mayaguez where our hotel was located. When we got there, we started seeing all of these "Mayaguez 2010" stickers, t-shirts, and other kinds of products with an Olympic looking torch logo. Curious, we asked what was going on and this girl told us that the Olympics were being held here this year. Ummmm...I'm sorry, but I don't think that's right. But she insisted that it was indeed the Olympics. Not wanting to argue, we left knowing that that was not the right answer. We eventually left and found out that what actually was taking place is the Central American and Caribbean Games, which will take place later this summer. Well, that makes much more sense. If the Olympics were held here, I think the whole island would be taken over.


Part of the reason we stayed in Mayaguez was because it is relatively close to Rincon, a popular beach town known for its surfing and big waves. The city is really beautiful. We ate dinner, watched the sunset, and went down to the beach the next day. Puerto Rico will get random rainstorms that pass through and then let up, so there were a couple of times where we had to run out from the water and duck under some palm trees while it passed. We met a Puerto Rican surfer with long dreads and the whole relaxed surfer vibe. The world surfing championships have been held here on more than one occassion. Rincon is not your San Juan or Miami-esque beach resort town. It had a quiet and relaxed vibe. The beaches are lined with palm trees and other native trees, and there are many cliffs and rocky coves. It's the type of place you could see yourself just chilling and going to the beach everyday, letting the sun slowly turn your hair golden from all the seawater and sunshine. Ahh, Rincon...the road to happiness. You just have to visit to understand.

After two days on the west coast, we made our way over to San Juan for the last leg of our trip. We tried to go visit the caverns in Camuy but one of the trolleys down to the cave broke and it was going to be another hour we had to wait before we could go on the tour. So we got our money back and kept going. It was such a shame because we've been to the caves before and I was really excited to get some great pictures on my camera, but that was just too long of a wait. And it definitely is not easy to get to either. It is in the mountains so we drove through miles of winding roads that looked down the mountainside. Kinda scary at times, but mostly just awe-inspiring. Oh well, no 'Ferngully' moment this trip, but I'll always remember how pretty those caves were.

So now we are in San Juan. We went to El Morro, the main fort in Old San Juan. The streets are cobblestone and the buildings are different colors. You just feel like you're walking in another time. There is a huge lawn in front of El Morro and they sell kites for kids to fly since the ocean breeze makes it a perfect kite-flying kind of place. Got some great shots of the fort and the ocean overall. We ate at a restaurant and had some more pina coladas. Let me tell you - they just don't make them like this in the states. It was delicioussss......mmmmm. Then we get out of the restaurant and there's a sign basically stating that this restaurant was the birthplace of the pina colada with some other info. I would hope they aren't lying.....so that's pretty cool - no wonder it was so good.


Well, it's late. I feel like I am missing out on so many details of my trip but I can't remember everything as I type. Tomorrow we are headed to El Yunque, the rainforest. This is my favorite part and I'm looking forward to rivers, waterfalls, trees, butterflies....nature at its best. Goodnight!

Hola Ponce!

I made it safely to Puerto Rico on a red eye flight from Orlando to Ponce. Talk about a long day...I did get to sleep a few hours on the plane and I actually enjoyed flying at night with the cabin dark and quiet. We flew in to Ponce, which is on the southern coast of the island - "The Pearl of the South," rather than San Juan, which is in the northeast. There are plenty of mountains covering the whole island. It really is beautiful and I just had to start practicing my photography skills with my new camera!

On the first day, we went and visited the city's town center, where we immediately stopped by and got some delicious ice cream from this famous vendor. I had pineapple, and mmmmm....I have to admit it beat out Jeremiah's gelato's...I know, I know! There are plenty of sweets in Puerto Rico, from piraguas (which are basically ice and syrup) to limbers (more cool icy ice creaminess). Yummy....it's hard to control how many you eat when you are so freakin' HOTTT!!! Oh my goodness, I definitely took air conditioning for granted. I'm sweating bullets and then pass out for a nap just from the heat...ahh, island life. Anyways, we visited La Parque de Bombas, which is the first fire station in Ponce. It is quite the landmark and very unique. It's painted black and red and it's been one of the main fixtures of the city for centuries.

Next, it was off to visit family. Lots of family...I should have prepared myself for the questions: Do you have a boyfriend? When are you going to have babies? AAHHHHHH, note to self: next time I come to Puerto Rico, I need to come bearing children. Hahaha, nonononono, at least not yet. It is a little weird seeing most of my cousins who are my age or younger with their kids. I did have a moment where I got a little pang inside my chest like, "This could be my child." One day, one day....

We went to a pier near the beach called La Guancha. It was nice just strolling around eating empanadillas.....and being eaten by mosquitoes!!! I must say, it's really attractive walking around smelling like bug spray. "What am I wearing? Well, I must say it's this fabulous new scent...it's called 'OFF' and it comes in the most darling orange spray bottle!" No matter how many mosquitoes you swat away, they still find you. I can't even count how many bites I already have, but it's okay. There was the sweetest little black puppy that ended up following me around, but I will leave that for a separate posting because there are enough stray dogs in Puerto Rico to create a blog in and of itself. I feel very badly for these dogs and often am saving up my food and water so I can feed them whenever I get a chance. I've been taking their pictures randomly (for practice for my pet photography business, wink-wink). But man, that black puppy was a cutie.

Today we went and visited the Indian Ceremonial Park in Tibes. The Taino Indians of Puerto Rico built this and can you believe that a man that owned the property did not even know that it was on his land? It wasn't until a hurricane blew through the island one year did the ceremonial grounds reveal themselves under piles of earth and rock...pretty amazing. Got to take lots of pictures of the rocks and trees and rivers, but again, it was freakin' hot. I don't burn easily, but my shoulders are definitely red.

Tonight we went and spent the evening just sitting outside on the front porch of my aunt's house. Mosquito suicide, tell me about it. But it was nice just sitting out and talking, breeze blowing through the mountains, the sound of the coqui (small tree frog in PR) in the trees, dogs barking, cars racing up and down the street, and then some random people riding up the hill on horses, and OH YEAH...a random streetside sermon being delivered by someone that I think I am going to have nightmares about tonight. But just sitting out, being with family - all these little things make me realize how it's all the little things that matter. Doesn't matter how much money you have, how big your house is - if you surround yourself with love and family and good times, that's all that matters. It reminded me of how we used to spend time in Waterbury, always outside, always a party - big mouths, big appetites, big love. All in all, Ponce (named after Ponce de Leon - and the city mascot is the lion) has been wonderful. Now we are off to Mayaguez and Rincon for a few days before we head to San Juan. Peace and love.

Pictures above - 1: The Flamboyan - tree of Puerto Rico. It's really beautiful and I don't think this picture does it justice. The orangey-red flowers really look like flames. 2: This is Puerto Rico's national flower. I don't remember what the name is. 3: One of the many mountain views of the island.